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uBlock filter list to hide all YouTube Shorts

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Re: uBlock filter list to hide all YouTube Shorts

#351

Post by 3form »

TyrunDemeg101 wrote: post #312

A nuclear option that's worked extremely well for me is going into Youtube's settings and disabling history. I no longer am even able to see shorts, they don't get suggested to me. However, this is an extreme nuclear option and also disables the entire 'Home' and for-you type content. You can search and watch videos, but it flips it so it is 100% intention driven. Which means discoverability and browsing is non-exist…

For an older Internet user, it feels baffling that returning a website to a state where it shows you what you search for, and what you subscribe to, is considered an extreme nuclear option.

Re: uBlock filter list to hide all YouTube Shorts

#352

Post by make3 »

3form wrote: post #351
TyrunDemeg101 wrote: post #312

A nuclear option that's worked extremely well for me is going into Youtube's settings and disabling history. I no longer am even able to see shorts, they don't get suggested to me. However, this is an extreme nuclear option and also disables the entire 'Home' and for-you type content. You can search and watch videos, but it flips it so it is 100% intention driven. Which means discoverability and browsing is non-exist…

For an older Internet user, it feels baffling that returning a website to a state where it shows you what you search for, and what you subscribe to, is considered an extreme nuclear option.

Amazon and Spotify and Netflix are all enormous examples of not just giving you what you asked for (->recommendation engines).

They were there all along, just less egregiously.

Even PageRank (the secret sauce in the original Google search) is arguably a recommendation engine.

You can just use PCA of some feature then use cosine similarity, this has been known forever.

Re: uBlock filter list to hide all YouTube Shorts

#353

Post by rconti »

Bluestrike2 wrote: post #345
rconti wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's amazing that the algorithms are so universal rather than personalized. You'd think they'd want to notice that I _absolutely never_ watch shorts, and stop showing them to me, instead recommending something else. I understand why FB/IG do it; I _occasionally_ give in and get sucked into a couple. But that NEVER happens to me with YT.

Shorts are treated as a privileged feature; they aren't going to simply hide them just because a few of us have the unmitigated gall not to watch them. That's not to their benefit. Youtube and the other platforms want to manipulate users into getting on that particular hamster wheel, and the app's UX reflects that. In that, it's not dissimilar to how streaming services routinely prioritize engagement maximization ove…

I would expect (but cannot prove) that these hostile patterns decrease engagement on the individual level.

But maybe the effort to cater to people who avoid this stuff isn't worth it, or maybe they find it doesn't really discourage us from finding what we want, or the value of this stuff is so high that they find a sufficient number of converts over time.

Re: uBlock filter list to hide all YouTube Shorts

#354

Post by notpushkin »

qmr wrote: post #274
notpushkin wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which would make sense, but they do it for the logged-in users as well! (And of course there’s platforms like LinkedIn or Twitter which do this and require you to log in for any meaningful interaction.)

Have you considered not rewarding their bad behavior?

I’ve left Twitter, yeah, and I’ve only really used LinkedIn while searching for a job last year. I am, however, guilty of scrolling through Instagram every now and then, even though it’s just as hostile.

Re: uBlock filter list to hide all YouTube Shorts

#355

Post by marginalia_nu »

happymellon wrote: post #342
marginalia_nu wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cookies don't last forever, certainly not across different browsers. It's why you keep having to accept GDPR policies over and over.

The reason why you have to decline tracking is because they want to wear you down.

My point is that you get this even if you try to do it correctly. The best you are ever going to get with cookies or local storage, even with the best intentions, is "ask me again later".

Cookies don't stick around forever.

Re: uBlock filter list to hide all YouTube Shorts

#356

Post by lobsterthief »

smw wrote: post #282
tsoukase wrote: post #230

Many stuff are addictive, some legal (smoking, gambling), some legal with prescription (drugs) and some illigal (opioids). Infinite scrolling, either video only (yt shorts) or mixed content lies in the first category. This is a war one fights by himself as law doesn't helps with gatekeeping. Any weapon that helps me is welcome. Filtering the content that whould otherwise polute my screen space and distract me from th…

This reads like AI slop?

It didn’t read like that to me, at all. Also, did you mean to ask a question? :)

Re: uBlock filter list to hide all YouTube Shorts

#357

Post by TyrunDemeg101 »

byproxy wrote: post #324
TyrunDemeg101 wrote: post #312

A nuclear option that's worked extremely well for me is going into Youtube's settings and disabling history. I no longer am even able to see shorts, they don't get suggested to me. However, this is an extreme nuclear option and also disables the entire 'Home' and for-you type content. You can search and watch videos, but it flips it so it is 100% intention driven. Which means discoverability and browsing is non-exist…

This is exactly what I’ve done for my Google settings after feeling more and more upset with what the Youtube homepage was showing me. Not so much in that it was necessarily contrary to what I may have wanted to watch, but more-so me thinking “My god.. is this what I’ve become?” I now much prefer to open Youtube (quasi) tabula rasa . I still have subscriptions set up so I can follow “vetted” accounts, but for other t…

Yea - the not remembering a spot in a video IS a slight inconvenience, but for me it's a small price to pay in order to not get sucked into HOURS thrown away chasing the next 'hit' of dopamine from shorts.

Re: uBlock filter list to hide all YouTube Shorts

#358

Post by TyrunDemeg101 »

cardiffspaceman wrote: post #341
TyrunDemeg101 wrote: post #312

A nuclear option that's worked extremely well for me is going into Youtube's settings and disabling history. I no longer am even able to see shorts, they don't get suggested to me. However, this is an extreme nuclear option and also disables the entire 'Home' and for-you type content. You can search and watch videos, but it flips it so it is 100% intention driven. Which means discoverability and browsing is non-exist…

I have been happy with the serendipity of YouTube’s algorithm generally. I followed an external link to a YouTube video about an exotic piano, and played a few related videos afterwards. These were videos about other unusual musical instruments, such as very high-pitched and very low-pitched wind instruments. And somehow that was part of a process leading to Japanese metal bands. Dopamine-driven behavior in ourselves…

I DO miss the discoverability. I really do. But my self control for watching shorts ends up being incredibly self sabotaging. I truly wish I could permanently disable shorts in some way. I wish I could use my DNS to block shorts, but alas they're not distinct.

Re: uBlock filter list to hide all YouTube Shorts

#359

Post by TyrunDemeg101 »

3form wrote: post #351
TyrunDemeg101 wrote: post #312

A nuclear option that's worked extremely well for me is going into Youtube's settings and disabling history. I no longer am even able to see shorts, they don't get suggested to me. However, this is an extreme nuclear option and also disables the entire 'Home' and for-you type content. You can search and watch videos, but it flips it so it is 100% intention driven. Which means discoverability and browsing is non-exist…

For an older Internet user, it feels baffling that returning a website to a state where it shows you what you search for, and what you subscribe to, is considered an extreme nuclear option.

I'm also an older Internet user, but I assumed that it was a nuclear option to so dramatically change the expected behavior that without warning people they would be quite shocked. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Re: uBlock filter list to hide all YouTube Shorts

#360

Post by wilg »

pseudohadamard wrote: post #226
wilg wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not financially, since creators get 55% of YouTube premium fees.

Look at it the other way round, Google takes nearly half of their income, where they're putting a huge amount of time and energy into creating content while Google's contribution is hosting the data on a server. It also reinforces the YouTube hostage situation where content creators can't afford to leave the abusive relationship because they'll lose most of the income that Google isn't already taking off them.

If that's all of Google's contribution then creators should have no problem hosting the data themselves and keeping the difference for themselves.
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